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Cancer survivors and caregivers took a survivor's lap following the Relay for Life opening ceremony. Ayanna Eckblad/Albert Lea Tribune

Honorary chairperson Nicki Griffith shared her story of going through a rare type of cancer at the Freeborn-Mower County Relay for Life event. Ayanna Eckblad/Albert Lea Tribune

Pastor Don Malinsky shared a hymn and gave the prayer at the Freeborn-Mower Relay for Life event Friday. Ayanna Eckblad/Albert Lea Tribune

Hundreds of luminaria bags were set up around the fairgrounds for this year's Freeborn-Mower County Relay for Life. Gold bags signified lives that were lost to cancer while purple bags were dedicated to survivors. Ayanna Eckblad/Albert Lea Tribune

Cancer survivors and caregivers return from the survivor's lap during Freeborn-Mower County's Relay for Life event. Ayanna Eckblad/Albert Lea Tribune

By Ayanna Eckblad

The Freeborn County Fairgrounds was crowded Friday evening for the 2024 Freeborn-Mower County Relay for Life event. This year the cancer charity walk was a combination of Freeborn, Mower and Waseca counties.

This decision was made to keep Mower and Waseca counties active in Relay for Life even if they were unable to do the event separately. Throughout the fairgrounds, hundreds of paper luminaria bags dedicated to friends and loved ones decorated walkways, patches of lawn and along the Grandstand. There was a space dedicated to the memory of those who passed away from cancer, represented by gold luminaria bags, as well as purple luminaria bags representing cancer survivors.

This was a community effort, with many businesses and individuals donating money, time or items for the event’s silent auction. Freeborn County 4-Hers served food in the Fairlane Building during the event as well.

One of the event’s primary organizers, Diane Hanson has been helping put together Relay for Life events for many years. She began to get involved after her brother was diagnosed with leukemia. When she began volunteering for Relay for Life, she decided to get her local Girl Scout troop to participate. Eight years ago she started helping with the Relay for Life event at her church.

“I’ve had many people in my family pass away from cancer,” Hanson said. “So it’s a very dear thing to me.”

The opening ceremony kicked off at the Grandstand with the members of the Freeborn County Honor Guard Honor presenting the colors, followed by singing the national anthem. Don Malinsky shared a hymn and then prayed over the event.

Guest speaker Luke Hoeppner, associate professor and leader of the Cancer Biology research section at The Hormel Institute, University of Minnesota, gave a speech celebrating the large strides made in cancer research over the past few decades while also emphasizing the work that remains to be done in the search for new cancer treatments and a cure.

Honorary chairperson Nicki Griffith was the main speaker at the event. She shared her story of battling a rare type of cancer, ampullary adenocarcinoma.

She described the process of her cancer diagnosis and the treatments she went through. She also spoke about the challenges she still carries even though treatment has ended.

She then took time to  thank her family, friends, doctors and hospital staff who helped make her recovery possible.

Griffith closed her speech by telling the crowd she and a group of several close friends decided to all get elephant tattoos.

The meaning behind the design is huge for Griffith, and she shared what it represents with a quote from The Festive Farm Co., “In the wild, female elephants are known as fierce protectors, and when one of their sisters is suffering, they circle up around her. They close in tight, watch over her and even kick dust up around her to mask her vulnerable scent from predators; and yet, we are all the same. This is who we are, and who we were meant to be for each other. Sometimes we’re the ones in the middle. Sometimes we’re the ones kicking up dust with fierce, fierce love. But the circle always remains.”

Following Griffith’s speech, cancer survivors and caregivers were invited to be the first to walk the Relay for Life path in a “survivors lap.” Others were encouraged to join in after survivors returned to the starting point. The night concluded with lighting the luminaria bags. People of all ages and abilities walked together and honored the people in their lives affected by cancer.

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